US Department of Defense gives approval to Samsung Knox devices

Samsung has announced that five of its Galaxy devices have been approved for the U.S government's Defense Information System Agency (DISA) products list. The devices include the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active, Galaxy Note 3, the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. All of them are using Android 4.4 (KitKat) along with Samsung's KNOX secure workspace platform, which includes system-level encryption for enterprise-based apps.

This move means that all of these mobile products can be used by the Department of Defense on unclassified networks, along with other federal agencies. Samsung claims that it will offer the government a larger choice of products while also cutting down on costs. Samsung previously announced a general agreement with the U.S government that allowed for devices running KNOX to be used by their agencies.

Samsung says that in order to comply with the the standards set by DISA, the devices had to have over 100 requirements, including more secure encryption, intrusion detection and more.

What do you think about this move by the U.S. government to approve use of Samsung's consumer mobile devices?

Knox is a 'restriction' for my use. Should be an option from the moment you first buy your device. Not everyone has enterprise needs. They might as well be Apple in my book. Thats ok though because I'll simply find another company to take my money.

Knox is not a restriction. Posting this on each reply that says otherwise. It is not pre-installed and ask you if you want to install it. What phone is it actually pre-installed on? I have the S4 personally. Not forced on this one. I must be special.

My biggest issue is this.
Samsung and others claiming that unauthorized software could cause damage to the phone is a bunch of crap!
How many of us would stand for Lenovo, Apple, HP or whoever mandating that if we ran any other software on our computers we would void the warranty?

No desktop or laptop manufacturer could get away with that claim.
We shouldn't let mobile vendors get away with it either.

I know I won't be buying anymore Samsung devices beyond the S3 my daughter has and the S4 I have.

You can only brick a phone with a locked bootloader.
If the bootloader was not locked it is near impossible to brick a phone.

You can always flash back to stock if the bootloader was not locked.
So let's be clear; it's self fulfilling,

A phone is nothing more than a handheld computer.
Can I create a non-bootable PC by trying to load the wrong version of SuSe on it?
Yes, but I know that as long as I get the right stuff my machine will be okay.
As long as I load the software that came with the machine, I'll be fine.

The phone is bricked because the bootloader is locked.
An in some cases, there is no return, because the bootloader is locked....

Yes because 100+ Million users worldwide will actually care. Maybe 10 Million....but not everyone. Honestly though, to you think Samsung, or any other OEM, really give a crap? If you want to get around it, you can.

I have a friend who just got an S5 this weekend. She doesn't know what Knox is and doesn't care. She doesn't know what root is and doesn't care. To say that every single Samsung owner will do that is just plain stupid. No other word to describe it.

As someone who has spent countless hours configuring devices to meet DISA standards, I have much respect for Samsung. It is truly is amazing they were able to accomplish that while retaining all the functionality consumers expect.

Now, if they would only put that kind of effort into taking the bloat out of TouchWiz!

That's the very reason I got away from Samsung phones. They advertise it as adding security, but the truth of the matter is they're using it to enforce the software portion of their warranties. This less-than-transparent agenda left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Only tech geeks will notice so it won't ever be a mark against them. The majority of the people buying their devices don't care if it had added security which in retrospect is a good thing no matter which way you slice it.

Knox is optional on a Samsung device! How is it bloatware? The installer is the only thing loaded for those that want it. I had a few apps listed as bloatware that when run had to download the app. Bloatware is installed and taking up additional space, these were not. At the worst it was a pre-installed link.
Knox does nothing to enforce software warranties or warranties of any kind. It is a virtual part of the phone to allow secure applications to run and be separated from the non secure portions of the phone. Samsung controls what apps are allowed in that secure section. If your complaining about Knox because it restricts things, you really do not understand what Knox is and does.
Security is a needed item that voids out most convinces we get under little or no security.
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I think he means hooking up to his outlook account. The army uses the outlook webmail, which works just fine on Firefox IIRC. Just do that or just check your email only at work, the Army takes too much of your time for you to spend free time checking your Army mail

Its more about security protocols than software. And more about when you go home at the end of the day in the Army, go the fuck home and stop reading work emails. I worked in IT in the Army and people would always complain about not being able to check their mail at home, drive me nuts